New York Times to Unveil Redesigned Website Next Week

By LESLIE KAUFMAN

January 2, 2014

The New York Times said on Thursday that it would launch its redesigned website on Jan. 8.

The new platform, which will allow for better integration of video and photography with text, among other features, had been previously announced. The Times said it would be available to a small group of readers immediately as a test rollout.

Denise Warren, the executive vice president for digital products and services for The Times, said in a statement that the goal was to improve the user experience for both desktop and mobile users. The redesign includes features like responsive designs and faster-loading pages, and allows for much more reader engagement with the content. Readers will be able to view comments directly alongside articles.

“With more prominent video and photography, the new features are highly immersive and enhance our readers’ ability to share and comment throughout articles,” Jill Abramson, the executive editor, said in the statement.

The redesign will also contain a platform featuring content paid for by advertisers. Such content, known as “native advertising,” has raised concerns among some journalists that it could blur the lines between the editorial product and material provided by advertisers.

In a letter to employees last month, however, The Times’s publisher, Arthur Sulzberger Jr., promised that native ads would be clearly distinguished as paid posts and that the content would not be produced by newsroom employees.